(WB) A gay man who fled Afghanistan with his family in 1990 out of fear of persecution and death from the Taliban was among several protesters arrested on Feb. 10 for attempting to block U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos from entering a D.C. middle school.

An unclassified study from a military research unit in southern Afghanistan, released earlier this year, details how homosexual behavior is unusually common among men in the large ethnic group known as Pashtuns—though they seem to be in complete denial about it.

The study, obtained by Fox News, found that Pashtun men commonly have sex with other men, admire other men physically, have sexual relationships with boys and shun women both socially and sexually—yet they completely reject the label of “homosexual.”

The research was conducted as part of a longstanding effort to better understand Afghan culture and improve Western interaction with the local people. The report reveals some stunning other information as well.

(CNN) -- One of the six people killed in Monday's suicide bombing in Afghanistan was an airman who reportedly told his family he had deployed to Saudi Arabia. Apparently he didn't want them to worry about his safety.